


Movies

by Zorua_Illusion



Series: Genyatta Week Summer 2017 [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: (that's a tag??), Genyatta Week Summer, Hurt/Comfort, Mondatta's mentioned and that's about it, The Princess Bride References, genyatta week summer 2017, movies - Freeform, slightly more shippy than the last genyatta week but still can be platonically interpreted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 05:47:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11306958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zorua_Illusion/pseuds/Zorua_Illusion
Summary: Genji and Zenyatta watch a lot of movies.





	Movies

**Author's Note:**

> So I have to write in advance to post on time (otherwise it ends up looking like Building Bridges with sporadic updates), and to do that for Genyatta Week I have little post-its with notes on what to write. I'm going to put the notes at the beginning because I think they're funny.  
> Movies:  
> Movie Night - Studio Ghibli; comfort  
> Which changed to: They watch Princess Bride on the shit days.

Genji and Zenyatta watch a lot of movies.

They certainly had the time to, when traveling. Sometimes they’d talk, but other times Genji didn’t feel like speaking (it’s hard, sometimes, to get his mouth to open and make intelligible words come from it) and thus the two would sit in silence. It got boring on long train rides or plane flights, so eventually Genji downloaded a bunch of movies onto his phone to watch. After observing Zenyatta’s interest in cinema (quick glances at advertisements, a passing comment on Thespion 4.0, and some outdated references that Genji _knew_ were outdated), he buys a little attachment and hands one part of it to Zenyatta.

“So you can listen, too,” he explains shortly. Zenyatta thanks him humbly, and Genji reacts with false nonchalance.

The next time they’re on a train, Genji pulls out his phone and the matching attachment, plugging it in. The two watch some ancient animated film from half a century ago, a feel-good movie about being yourself and daring to do what you feel you must.

Zenyatta is a fantastic movie buddy. He doesn’t say anything, doesn’t squirm, just sits and watches. He laughs softly and gasps at whisper volume in all the right spots, and Genji can tell just how wide his metaphorical smile is just by sitting next to him when the movie ends. Zenyatta again thanks him for sharing the experience as Genji brushes off the gratitude. Any decent human being would do the same. (But the world is not filled with decency, and Genji is no longer completely human, so where does that leave him?)

But that is a story for another time, and best explained by another, so here’s how it goes: through the weeks, months, the rises and falls of the sun and moon, Zenyatta and Genji watch movies. Hundreds, at least, if not over a thousand. They range from Disney to horror to retold Shakespearian plays and back again. Genji ends up switching out some of the files due to lack of space. He leaves their favorite go-to films while removing the ones they didn’t like or were indifferent about, sorting them into different categories.

There’s one file that never gets deleted or moved. It’s off on its own, simply labelled “Do Not Delete” in Japanese.

It’s _The Princess Bride._ One of Zenyatta’s students had recommended it to the omnic.

“It’s a bit of a rom com, but it was my great-granddad’s favorite movie. It was the first movie he watched when he got out of the military and he said he was in tears after the first half hour because he laughed so hard. Maybe not all of us will have that experience, but still! Give it a go!” She grinned. She even gave Genji an HD file of the original movie, and not one of the “petty rip-offs” (her term, not his).

The intro was… well, as the student said, somewhat typical of a romantic comedy. Genji wasn’t very impressed with it until the Dread Pirate Roberts showed up, and then he was tingling with as much anticipation as Zenyatta was from the beginning.

Several fights, mind games, jokes, and a happy ending later, Genji and Zenyatta leaned back in their seats. They weren’t in tears with laughter, but Genji was a little breathless from it. Zenyatta seemed delighted as well, happily clapping his hands together softly.

“That was wonderful,” he sighed. Genji was inclined to agree – the movie had aged fairly well, considering some other movies of its time.

The file is kept, though originally it moves around fairly often. It never gets deleted, but it does get lost in all the data. After it took Genji five minutes to find it buried in the folders on his phone, he finally just creates a separate folder for it and labels it as “Do Not Delete” in Japanese.

Somehow it becomes the movie they watch on the days that are, for lack of a better term, shit. Days when Genji could not align his body and mind together, when the metal and mesh and carbon fiber weren’t him (but _are_ and somehow it hurts more than flesh ever could), it’s Zenyatta who picks up the phone and holds it as they huddle close together to watch the screen. Genji is easily able to lose himself in the story of Princess Buttercup and Wesley, able to fight off an episode for a little while longer. On days where anti-omnic protesters bother Zenyatta, where Genji cannot shield him from hurled insults and words sharper than his blades (because you cannot reason someone out of a position they did not reason themselves into), it’s Genji who hands him the device and lets the movie play.

On the day Mondatta died, Genji watched as Zenyatta’s phone blew up with messages of concern and fear and cries for help. After about an hour of watching Zenyatta filter through messages, fingers working across the screen, Genji gently places his hand over the phone, drawing Zenyatta’s attention up towards his visor. The mask is on, but in his other hand he holds the hearing device and his phone. Genji tilts his head and Zenyatta nods, the two watching the movie they could almost quote along to.

Zenyatta leans into Genji after the ROUS, and Genji looks down to see that while Zenyatta is not recharging, he’s also not paying attention.

“Genji,” he murmurs, his normally calm voice fluctuating in pitch and clarity, “Genji, it… I… hurts,” is what the omnic finally manages to get out.

Genji pulls him closer, letting the phone fall onto the mattress they’re sitting on. He thinks of blood-stained cherry blossoms and torn tapestries and _regret_ and whispers back “I know. I know. I’m here.”

(Genji is somewhat aware of how heavy the words _but Mondatta isn’t_ lie in the air, but Zenyatta doesn’t voice them. He chooses instead to take comfort in his student’s warm, strong arms and pretend like the outside world doesn’t exist.)

**Author's Note:**

> Fun Fact 1: I figure that since Zenyatta doesn’t have ears (or obvious ear like devices), that there would be other omnic models that don’t have them, and that there would be attachments for them to be able to listen to devices like phones and music players without disturbing other people.  
> Fun Fact 2: Genji’s anniversary/HotS voice line “You seem nice; I’d hate to kill you” is from The Princess Bride, spoken by Indigo Montoya. (The response is by Wesley: “You seem nice. I’d hate to die.”). Hence, the favorite being the Princess Bride.  
> Fun Fact 3: The story the student gave is actually true, although it was my dad and not my great-granddad. It’s still his favorite movie; we even got him the special edition for one of his birthdays back when DVDs were the most popular form of movie media.  
> Fun Fact 4: I wasn’t planning on adding in the bit about Zenyatta dealing with Mondatta’s death, but sometimes writing works like that. And hey, if I can write hurt/comfort for Genji I can write it for Zenyatta too.  
> Fun Fact 5: The first movie they watch together is Moana. Because I can’t get the soundtrack out of my head.


End file.
